Do students who have gained a high ATAR carry different expectations of their university experience?

August 16, 2011

The latest ratings released in the 2012 Good Universities Guide (which is now available for pu rchase) have uncovered some interesting trends and characteristics among Victorian universities. The Guide indicates that, while high‐achieving high school graduates consistently gravitate towards a select few universities, institutions tha t enjoy continued patronage from the state’s best and brightest (and command some of the toughest ATAR entry scores) arre not always counted amongst the top performers in key areas such as ‘Teaching Quality’ and ‘Overall Student Satis faction’. The Guide spoke to two of Victoria’s universities about whether ATAR scores and relative entry difficulty play any part in the student experience.

In the latest edition, Swinburne achieves 3 STARS for ‘Student Demand’ (indicating the numbe r of high‐scoring school leavers enrolling at universities around the country), which is comparable to RMIT and Deakin , but markedly lower than Monash and Melbourne (5 STARS). Whilst school leavers with ATARs strong enough to enrol a t an institution of their choice appear to overlook Swinburne, its graduates consistently deliver outstanding ratings fo r ‘Teaching Quality’, ‘Generic Skills’ and ‘Overall Satisfaction’, rating 5 STARS in each respective category for all graduates.

Is it a case of high achievers all flocking to the same institutions without researching alternati ve options, or does an ATAR play a part in shaping student expectations? The Guide asked Professor Shirley Leitch, Deputy Vice‐Chancellor (Academic) at Swinburne, about whether she believes that ATARs and/or relative entry difficulty play any part in the student experience at university: “At Swinburne we don’t believe that an exceptionally high ATAR is ne cessary to have a fulfilling experience at university. In fact it is often students who don’t fit the ‘academic mould’ who fin d their university experience to be the most transformational. University education can challenge their way of thinking and open their eyes to
possibilities they had never imagined.”

While a high ATAR score may not be a prerequisite for a fulfilling university experience at Swi nburne, the situation at Melbourne is different. Melbourne attracts among the largest numbers of high‐ATAR‐scoring students of any university in the country and consistently achieves 5 STARS for ‘Student Demand’ — students who can cho ose to study anywhere are enrolling at Melbourne. Nevertheless, when high‐achieving students graduate from Melbour ne, they are less satisfied with ‘Teaching Quality’ and ‘Generic Skills’ than their Swinburne counterparts (2 STARS and 1 STAR respectively). ‘Overall Student Satisfaction’ at Melbourne rated 1 STAR. The Guide spoke with Professor Pip Patters on, Deputy Vice‐Chancellor (Academic), for Melbourne’s response on whether a high‐achieving student cohort and/or rel ative entry difficulty may have contributed to graduates’ assessment of their overall experience: “One possible explana tion for the disparity between career outcomes and student satisfaction is that the need for further skill developme nt is very salient to high achieving students when they complete the Course Experience Questionnaire… As they (gradu ates) begin looking for and taking on work, the graduates themselves recognise that there is more to learn — hence the mismatch between employer confidence in graduates and graduates' self‐assessment (and their satisfaction ratings).”

Graduates seeking employment in the first three months after graduation undoubtedly revie w their skill‐set relative to the requirements of the workplace. Melbourne graduates seeking first‐time, full‐time work p ost‐graduation are employed in numbers comparable to the national averages for graduates from like fields of study (3 STA RS for ‘Getting a Full‐Time Job’). Swinburne graduates fared better, rating 4 STARS for ‘Getting a Full‐Time Job’. Once in employment, however, Melbourne graduates are amongst the country’s best paid (5 STARS), whilst Swinburne gradu ates generally achieve salaries comparable to or, in some fields, lower than the corresponding national average (1 ST AR). As with every edition of the Guide, results in the latest 2012 edition suggest that undergraduates are well‐advised t o align their expectations with the right course, in the right field of study, at the university that best matches their ambi tions.

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